Mowi Assistance Contributes To Goldstream Salmon Enhancement Success
Material and technical support from Mowi Canada West has made a significant contribution towards the success of the Goldstream Volunteer Salmonid Enhancement Association (GVSEA).
Peter McCully, Technical Advisor for GVSEA, the NGO that operates the Goldstream River Hatchery in Greater Victoria, says the Association is a multi-faceted operation and supports numerous activities:
- An education program where classroom incubators receive eyed eggs from the hatchery. Last year over 100 classrooms in six lower Vancouver Island school districts took part in this initiative.
- Ongoing research conducted through Royal Roads University and the University of Victoria.
- Stock assessment data is gathered for DFO Stock Assessment Division in five lower Island watersheds.
- Eyed eggs and fry are provided to enhance or jump start salmon returns in eight watersheds over and above Goldstream River. Before receiving such support from the Hatchery, the salmon returns to these waters were on the verge of extirpation. Now some of these streams are enjoying self-sustaining populations.
- The construction of a series of five fish ladders in a watershed that formerly did not support salmon due to impassable falls. Subsequent to the completion of these ladders, fry were transferred to this watershed. The result is that there is now a self-sustaining run of coho salmon utilizing this watershed.
“The fact that so many school children have received the benefit of the Stream to Sea program speaks well to the education support,” McCully states. “Additionally, we now have a self-sustaining salmon population in a stream that winds through four municipalities. Several other watersheds would no longer enjoy salmon returns were it not for the efforts of this volunteer Association.”
GVSEA was founded in 1991 and McCully started with the organization as a volunteer in 1975. He also has a consulting contract with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to provide technical support to other community based initiatives involved in aspects of salmon enhancement, habitat restoration, education and outreach and stock assessment.
“I provided a good measure of the technical support in Fish Culture and Hatchery Operations at GVSEA, but none of these activities would enjoy the success they have without the terrific involvement of the volunteer community and the support provided by Mowi in terms of materiel and technical support,” he adds.